Late Night News

Lincoln Holdzkom returns to the Cubs….Mike Kinkade out 4-6 weeks….Angel Guzman to start on Friday….Rocky Cherry could make the club

The Cubs announced on Sunday that Lincoln Holdzkom was returned from the Houston Astros. The Astros took Holdzkom in the Rule V Draft and he has agreed to report to the Cubs minor league camp where he will start the season with the Tennessee Smokies in Double-A ball. Baseball America listed Holdzkom as the Astros 21st best prospect in the organization. The Cubs acquired Holdzkom, along with Zach McCormick, in March of 2006 from the Florida Marlins for Todd Wellemeyer.

The Chicago Tribune reported on Sunday night Angel Guzman will start Friday’s game against the White Sox in Tucson and Mike Kinkade will miss four to six weeks with a broken bone in his hand that he suffered during SaturdayÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s game when he was hit by the Royals’ Brandon Duckworth.

Angel Guzman has been impressive thus far this spring and has entered the competition for the 5th and final spot in the rotation. In 3 games, 6 1/3 innings, he has allowed 3 runs, 2 earned, on 7 hits, hit a batter and struck out 2 with a 1.11 WHIP….but most importantly for Guzman he has not walked a batter and has hit the mid 90’s on his fastball.

Rocky Cherry was impressive again on Sunday when he recorded his 3rd save of the spring. Cherry could break camp on the 25-man roster due to the fact Michael Wuertz and Roberto Novoa have been injured and in Novoa’s case….ineffective.

Jeff Samardzija will likely be assigned to minor league camp once the first cuts are announced after Monday’s game against the Giants according to a report on Cubs.com. The same report mentioned Rich Hill and Sean Marshall will throw in a minor league game at Fitch Park this week. Hill’s start is to keep him on schedule for when the season starts.